“These Two Articles of Impeachment Are More Than Good Enough”

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins:

On Monday, House leaders released a historic pair of articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Some who have been horrified by Donald Trump’s conduct in office have raised questions over whether Democrats were right to include just two articles, arguing that Trump’s obstruction of the Mueller probe, or emoluments violations, or extreme immigration policies might warrant many more charges and a lengthier impeachment process. This is missing the bigger picture: Critics of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi should stop their handwringing and celebrate the fact that the House did a very good job in drafting these articles of impeachment, which will likely be voted on by the full House of Representatives before Christmas. The articles are short and to the point. They focus on Trump’s twin offenses of abusing his power by withholding military aid to Ukraine and a meeting with Ukraine’s president in an effort to pressure that country to announce an investigation of Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden, and Trump’s obstruction of Congress by ordering his staff to ignore all lawful subpoenas for documents and witness testimony relevant to the impeachment inquiry.

The Democrats’ path followed the approach I suggested in a September 27 article in Slate for a “clean impeachment strategy laser-focused on the Ukraine allegations” that would “not require a Carrie Mathison corkboard connecting the cast of characters with yarn.”

As many are second-guessing House’s actions, I want to respond to some objections that have been floating around:

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